We asked chefs to tell us about how they cook.
Eye-witness accounts of their own recipes and a flute of Berlucchi’s latest arrival, its ’61 Nature 2012
The narrative was the inspiration for A CHEF, A WINE, a portrait-on-the-move of two fascinating personalities.

Come along with us and let’s discover them together!

Our journey into the world of VIP cuisine leads us this time to meet Andrea Ribaldone.

Born in Milan in 1971, Andrea Ribaldone nevertheless has Piedmont’s culture in his veins, which led him to move in the 1990s to the area of Alessandria, where Maestro Riccardo Aiachini put him at the helm of the La Fermata restaurant, where he won his first Michelin star, in 2003.

After winning laurels for his ongoing participation in the “La prova del Cuoco” TV show, young Ribaldone proved himself a veritable volcano of projects, research, and consultancies, the latter including Eataly Tokyo and JSH Hotels&Resorts. In 2014, he opened I Due Buoi in Alessandria, which as awarded a Michelin star in 2016. Further star-studded establishments followed, at Osteria Arborina in the Langhe and at Due Camini in Borgo Egnazia, in Puglia.
In 2015, it was the turn of Expo Milano, where he helmed the Identità Expo restaurant, an exploit he repeated in the same city in 2018 with his permanent  direction of Identità Golose Milano, which Ribaldone describes as a “Home for chefs,” where exchanges of ideas and a continuous stream of diverse chefs has brought this historic Milan venue—once the Feltrinelli Foundation—new life  as a true salon of culinary culture.
The wine Chef Ribaldone selected to heighten his dish is Franciacorta Berlucchi ’61 Nature 2012, an extraordinary vintage-dated nature whose zero-dosage style and Chardonnay-Pinot Noir cuvée is the uncompromising expression of its Franciacorta terroir. He pairs it with a mullet raviolo in a potato and black garlic crème and a seasonal vegetable broth, a dish rich in contrasts that is the perfect complement to the complexity of Berlucchi ’61 Nature. In sum, a heavenly marriage of earthly flavours that merits a toast, naturally.

The post A Chef A Wine appeared first on Guido Berlucchi Franciacorta.

We asked chefs to tell us about how they cook.
Eye-witness accounts of their own recipes and a flute of Berlucchi’s latest arrival, its ’61 Nature Rosé 2011
The narrative was the inspiration for A CHEF, A WINE, a portrait-on-the-move of two fascinating personalities.

Come along with us and let’s discover them together!

Our journey through VIP cookery leads us this time to meet Marcello Trentini, Jeunes Restaurateur and Michelin-starred Chef of Magorabin.

Marcello Trentini, a dyed-in-the-wool Milanese, is the most unconventional chef on the Italian gastronomy stage, a cook who has built his professional identity as a self-proclaimed “anarchic pirate” around constant metamorphosis. No mere cook, but a far-sighted entrepreneur as well, since he has risked everything on the most daunting challenge of all: returning to his native Turin with the itch to surprise the world with his Magorabin.

Trentini is an artist through and through, of cooking, of course, but his talents don’t stop there. Let’s look at his degree in fine arts, his university cinema studies, his passion for music, then let’s add a plentiful pinch of love for fine wine and food, and vigorously blend in his 11 years of traveling from one international kitchen to another. And, voilà, the recipe for the original launch of Magorabin, whose main ingredient over the years has been contamination: the skilful mixing of raw ingredients, cultures, geographies, and styles. In his words, “Cooking is art. My dishes showcase the rigour of composing a symphony and the imagination of jazz improvisation.”

His dishes are the medium he has chosen to express his art, to achieve his goal of enabling the unique conviviality created by gathering around the table, with one of his creations at each setting, paired with a glass of wine sapiently selected by his companion Simona, unquestioned monarch of the front of the house.

To embody the deep bond of friendship with the Ziliani family, he re-visited lobster Catalan style, whose acidity is the result of two contributions by Berlucchi 61 Nature 2011, used first in the prawn sauce, which is produced through a simple cold extraction, and then in the aspic bedding the poached lobster. The sensory verticality, a sine qua non for the perfect partnering with the complexity of Nature 2011, the fruit of six years’ maturation sur lie, is created by a creative multi-layering of aromatic herbs, lime zest, Sicilian extravirgin olive oil, and Kerala green pepper.

And ecco a sublime encounter of flavours and philosophies, where the painstaking care exercised by Marcello in the selection of each individual ingredient and preparation of the whole melds seamlessly into the magisterial artistry that coaxes each cluster of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the vine and into the flute. “The excitement of savouring, in the wine-glass, the entire history of a family.”

The post A Chef A Wine appeared first on Guido Berlucchi Franciacorta.

We asked chefs to tell us about how they cook.
The results? Personal accounts of their own recipes and a flute of Berlucchi’s latest arrival, its ’61 Nature Rosé 2011
Those narratives were the inspiration for ONE CHEF, ONE WINE, portraits-on-the-move of two fascinating personalities.

Follows us and discover them along with us.

Our journey into the world of VIP chefs leads to an encounter this time with Davide Oldani.

After his initial hotel-institute training, the Milan-born chef began his professional career under the tutelage of Gualtiero Marchesi, then with Ibert Roux in London, Alain Ducasse in Montecarlo, and Pierre Hermé in Paris. This treasure of Europe’s multi-starred haute cuisine resulted in the launching, in 2003, of D’O in Cornaredo, thus returning Davide to the province of Milan and immediately bringing his first Michelin star.

Chef, businessman, designer, writer, and artist are only some of the roles that Davide Oldani has played from 2003 to the present, accomplishments that have won him top recognition not only from the most prestigious culinary guides but from some of the finest business schools.

The ingredients of his success? A passion for life and for risk-taking, but even more than that, a desire to extend hospitality in the most thoroughgoing manner possible, and all’italiana, have driven this chef to undertake many of his initiatives. It is in the context of his dedication to hospitality that his ideas about POP cuisine and his design innovations found their roots—an added value to each dish that diners at D’O discover in each detail.

“Berlucchi and I have a mutual esteem that inspires us to create high quality for Italy,” explains Oldani. That led to his creating for Berlucchi ’61 Nature Rosé 2011 an extraordinary pairing, the fruit of his fascination with its appearance, which led him to reinterpret it in a playful and seasonal fashion, utilising cubes of watermelon.

His dish, “Watermelon, lettuce stalks, olive seeds, and fregola,” is an interplay of balances and contrasts that are mirrored in those same qualities in Berlucchi’s vintage-dated Franciacorta.

The complexity of the Pinot Noir, aged five years in the bottle, is beautifully complemented by the sweet-sour taste of the watermelon and olive seeds, while the wine’s delicate bead of pin-point bubbles finds its perfect foil in the creamy mouse of the fregola. Absolutely not-to-be-missed!

© www.matteorinaldi.it

© www.matteorinaldi.it

The post Uno Chef Un Vino appeared first on Guido Berlucchi Franciacorta.

We asked chefs to tell us about how they cook.
Eye-witness accounts of their own recipes and a flute of Berlucchi’s latest arrival, its ’61 Nature Rosé 2011
The narrative was the inspiration for ONE CHEF, ONE WINE, portrait-on-the-move of two fascinating personalities.

Our journey through the world of VIP chefs this time features an encounter with Cristina Bowerman.

Cristina Bowerman was born in Cerignola, in the province of Foggia, in Puglia. Her integration into the world of professional cooking was neither rapid nor straightforward; rather, it was as surprising and unexpected as her dishes.

Following a university degree in law, Bowerman moved to California to further her love for creativity by studying Graphic Design, but during all that time she cultivated her love for cooking passed on to her by her mother and grandmother by working in a coffee house. Finally, she obtained her degree in Culinary Arts at the Culinary Academy of Austin, Texas, then, in 2004, she donned the toque at the Glass Hostaria di Trastevere, where she succeeded in developing her uniquely personal and exuberant style, which won her in 2010 a Michelin star.

Love for food is her primary raw ingredient, spiced with an endless curiosity and urge to experiment. She wants her cooking to surprise, and in this she has been eminently successful. “Food is nothing else but the finest expression of my creativity,” she stated, and that creativity becomes for her admirers a continues revelation.

Cristina took a Franciacorta with an exuberant character—our Berlucchi ’61 Rosé 2011—and paired it with an unexpected dish, a filet of beef crusted with leek powder in a demi-glace sauce of chocolate, black garlic, and king trumpet mushrooms, finished with a torcione of aged fois gras powder.

In this intriguing marriage, the five years’ ageing sur lie of the 2011 vintage Franciacorta find their complement in the structure of the beef, and the complex verticality of the Pinot Noir is heightened by the wealth of multi-sensory impressions that explode in the mouth at each bite.

Truly an audacious yet sublime pairing!

The post A Chef A Wine appeared first on Guido Berlucchi Franciacorta.

We asked chefs to tell us about how they cook.
Eye-witness accounts of their own recipes and a flute of Berlucchi’s latest arrival, its ’61 Nature 2010
The narrative was the inspiration for ONE CHEF, ONE WINE, portrait-on-the-move of two fascinating personalities.

Come with us on this journey of discovery.

Our current adventure in a celebrity kitchen is an encounter with Michele Biassoni and Masaki Okada.

Michele Biassoni is a young chef boasting impressive international training, while Masaki Okada is a Japanese maestro who confesses a deep love for Italy’s culture and cuisine.

They are the two guiding spirits of Iyo di Milano, Italy’s first “ethnic-cuisine” restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star.

Michele Biassoni started his professional activities in his grandmother’s kitchen, then polished his skills is the starred establishments of Martin Berasategui in Spain, Il vino d’Enrico Bernardo in Paris, and Sadler in Milan.

Masaki Okada, master of the Kaiseki tradition, fell in love with Italian culinary traditions upon watching a TV program on the subject; moving to Italy, he travelled the peninsula from Puglia to Tuscany, the4n stopped in Genoa and worked alongside Haruo Ichikawa in… Iyo.  

Biassoni e Okada met each other at that establishment in Via Piero della Francesca and through their art endowed its international cuisine with an emotional charge coherent with the philosophy and name of the restaurant, which means, in fact, fluctuating world.

Two chefs, and two worlds apparently “worlds apart” but in reality perfectly compatible: Biassoni in the kitchen, Okada at the sushi. Hot and cold. The many become one, diversity folds into synthesis. Their respective cultures of origin become access points to eloquent new promises.  

This is precisely the significance of the dish that they suggested for A Chef A Wine—a mullet fillet seared with oil drizzled on the skin: crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, served with spring onions sautéed with sesame seed oil, green jalapeño crème, lemon-ginger aspic, and soy-infused toasted sesame.

A dialectic of opposites whose sublimity is further heightened by a pairing with Berlucchi ’61 Nature, the very quintessence of the Franciacorta growing area.

This Nature represents an homage to purity, since its dosage contains no sugar, and it offers an extraordinarily-complex suite of aromatics and a truly remarkable balance throughout its dynamic progression, making it a splendid partner for all the courses of a meal.

It is at its sensory best when accompanying dishes whose complexity reveals culinary inventiveness but at the same time arouses sublime sensory sensations.

Michele Biassoni and Masaki Okada

The post A Chef a Wine appeared first on Guido Berlucchi Franciacorta.

We asked chefs to tell us about how they cook.
Eye-witness accounts of their own recipes and a flute of Berlucchi’s latest arrival, its ’61 Nature 2010
The narrative was the inspiration for ONE CHEF, ONE WINE, portrait-on-the-move of two fascinating personalities.

Come with us on this journey of discovery.

The next stop on our tour of signature cuisine is to meet Moreno Cedroni.

Cedroni was born in Senigallia, in 1964. He learned the culinary arts from two unrivaled teachers – his mother and his grandmother, who taught him all there is to know about the exciting fragrances and flavors of local cuisine.

Aged just twenty, he opened his La Madonnina del Pescatore restaurant on the seafront at Senigallia. When he isn’t busy cooking, he travels to distant lands to learn how to use ingredients that are virtually unknown in Italy. Back home, he tries them out and adds a hint of exotic depth to traditional recipes, but never strays from their ingredients and prep methods.

This new approach to seafood has garnered Moreno some top awards, including Two Stars from Michelin and the Italian chair of Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe association.

In 2000, Cedroni opened his Clandestino Susci Bar, in Portonovo, set in the Conero bay, and three years later he opened Anikò, the world’s first fish delicatessen, in Senigallia.

During his visit to Palazzo Lana Berlucchi, the venerable mansion next to the cellar, Cedroni paired his shrimp hot dog and seafood lasagnetta with Berlucchi’s latest arrival, the ’61 Nature 2010. What better partner than a perfectly balanced Franciacorta, with a “genteel” sparkle endowed by five years ageing on the lees, for dishes garnished with delicately exotic hints that take diners on a virtual trip East.

The post A Chef a wine appeared first on Guido Berlucchi Franciacorta.

Our adventure into the world of celebrity chefs now brings is into the sparkling-bright kitchens of Seta, the gourmet restaurant of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Milan to meet Executive Chef Antonio Guida.

Guida, born in Tricase, Puglia, in 1972, has always felt the pull of culinary magic, a passion that inspired his travels through Europe and Asia, where he worked alongside multi-starred chefs the calibre of Pierre Gagnaire of the Enoteca Pinchiorri, and of Don Alfonso.

The Terrazza restaurant in Rome’s Hotel Eden then hired Guida as chef, and in 2002 he became Executive Chef of Il Pellicano, where he garnered two Michelin stars.

Since 2014, he has served as Executive Chef of Seta, which won a Michelin star in 2015, just four months after opening, an achievement that was doubled in 2016.

Among Guida’s iconic creations, place of honour goes to Oysters with smashed potatoes, friggitelli peppers, in a Berlucchi Franciacorta sauce.

“For this dish, I wanted a full-flavoured, elegant, well-rounded Franciacorta, precisely’61 Nature 2009,” explains Guida. Hotel Food & Beverage Manager Alberto Tasinato echoes his comments: “This is a very well-balanced dish. It opens to the richness of the oysters, which yields to the creamy smoothness of the potatoes, and finally concludes with the crisp acidity of the Franciacorta sauce. The statement made by this multi-layered complexity is beautifully heightened by the Nature, which combines the richness of the Chardonnay grape with the classic minerality of the Pinot Noir.” Savour this dish and a flute of Franciacorta in the gorgeous surroundings of Seta, while you bask in the exquisitely professional service of the Seta wait staff.

Antonio Guida

Alberto Tasinato

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Our journey through the world of celebrity chefs continues with Stefano Cerveni of Corte Franca.

Cerveni was born on 4 November 1969 in Rovato, the gastronomic capital of Franciacorta.

Right from his earliest childhood, he absorbed a passion for cooking from his grandmother and from his parents, who owned the Locanda Due Colombe. After graduation from hotelier school, he partnered with his father Giuseppe in the kitchen, and in 2000 took over the reins as chef of the family restaurant. In 2008, Michelin awarded its star to Due Colombe , and two years later, Cerveni moved the restaurant to a more elegant and private location, in the magnificent Borgo San Vitale in Corte Franca.

“What I want is that the passion, dedication, and commitment that I give to my work, that are right there in every dish I prepare, are ingredients that my guests can see, feel, and taste,” says Cerveni. “That means that I want my guests to be able to savour the pleasures of my cooking in a relaxed, warm atmosphere where they can feel at home but still enjoy the meticulous service of our staff and the absolute quality of the raw ingredients that my cooks and I use in our kitchen.”

Among chef Cerveni’s favourite dishes, top honours go to an area classic, the tench, a lake native that the chef’s art makes delicate and aesthetically perfect. Berlucchi ’61 Nature 2009 is the ideal partner, explains Due Colombe sommelier Gianluca Goatelli, since “the intensity and creaminess of the tench, enriched by the outside crust of the stuffing, are perfectly complemented by the lengthy ageing of the Franciacorta. The very delicate bead, tangy flavours, and crispness of this Nature style drive an almost-endless finish, providing an optimal harmony of all its components.”.

Tinca with Berlucchi ’61 Nature

Stefano Cerveni e il sommelier Gianluca Goatelli

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Our adventure into the world of the celebrity chefs continues with Giancarlo Perbellini of Verona.

Born in Bovolone, near Verona, in 1964, Perbellini inherited from his grandfather Ernesto his passion for pastrymaking and cooking.

Right from his earliest childhood, Giancarlo spent hours by his grandfather’s side as he worked, learning the secrets of the pastrymaker’s art. After years of perfecting his skills in prominent Italian and French restaurants, he returned to Verona in 1989 to open his Perbellini restaurant in Isola Rizza. A stupendous debut, then in 1996 its first Michelin star, and in 2002 its second.

Perbellini then took a decisive step, taking leave of Isola Rizza to open Casa Perbellini in Piazza di San Zeno in Verona. What makes this restaurant stand out is its spectacular open kitchen, providing guests not only with a sublime dining experience but with a privileged observation point as well. With only 24 places, guests can enjoy true “up close and personal” contact with the chef and his team and can admire the preparation of their dishes, all in an atmosphere that combines warm hospitality and the “theatricality” of the creative process.

In 2015, just 12 months after opening its doors, Casa Perbellini garnered Michelin’s Two Stars, and in 2016 it won the Four Hats award of L’Espresso’s Guida dei Ristoranti.

The menu’s Gnocchi di grano arso e ricotta di bufala, vongole, caviale, limone (“Burnt wheat” gnocchi and ricotta di bufala, clams, caviar, and lemon) is a marriage made in heaven together with Berlucchi ’61 Nature 2009, according to sommelier Marco Matta: the recipe’s taut, citrusy notes re-appear in the flute, and the lively acidity and refinement of the Franciacorta underscores the richness of the dish, creating an appealing crispness that leaves the palate clean and fresh.

Giancarlo Perbellini with Marco Matta – ph. Giorgio Marchiori

Gnocchi di grano arso e ricotta di bufala, vongole, caviale, limone.

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Chefs.
Some creative, some traditional, but all perfectionists.
Made in Italy maestros wielding a kitchen stove,
stubbornly passionate about their work.
We listened to them translating culinary art into discourse,
with their dishes eloquently reflecting their words,
accompanied by a flûte of ’61 Nature, maison Berlucchi’s latest creation.
The fruit of that address was UNO CHEF UN VINO (A Chef, a Wine), a dynamic portrait of two intriguing personalities.  
Come along with us and we’ll discover them together.

Our adventure with celebrity chefs continues with Claudio Sadler of Milan.

From his Trentino father he inherited rigorous precision, discipline, and love for detail; from his Mantuan mother came his passion for the good and the beautiful. Milan, the city where he has always lived, infused his cosmopolitan outlook.

Sadler is a cook, but a restaurateur as well, two completely different professions that coexist in him in utter harmony. This chef-businessman celebrated, in 2016, the 30^th anniversary of his Michelin two-starred restaurant, Sadler. Here he lives, and thrives, in his true natural habitat, around him a team of 20, between front and back of the house, who work together as a seamless team, as well as a team of equal size dedicated to banquet service.

Sadler proposes an “extended” Italian cuisine, which takes careful note of the country’s social and cultural evolution and succeeds in masterfully reinterpreting the classic dishes to meet the demands of modern gourmands. This translates into appropriately-sized portions and lighter preparations, sapient touches that contemporize the great classics.

Take for example risotto in porcini water with powdered cornucopia mushrooms and gold. A simple recipe, but painstaking selection of ingredients, their near-obsessive measuring out, the pungent aromas of the cornucopia mushroom, and the visual fascination of the powdered gold together render it utterly intriguing.

The pairing with Berlucchi ’61 Nature 2009 gorgeously highlights the flavours of Sadler’s risotto. In the words of Claudio Baggini, the restaurant’s sommelier, “the earthy impression of the mushrooms blends magisterially with the “frankness’ of the non-dosage Franciacorta; the long-lingering, pin-point bubbles, on the other hand, lift the dish’s creamy texture, while the wine’s scents of fresh-baked bread and yeastiness successfully duet with the generous, luscious flavours of the dish—a heavenly marriage.”

A marriage of fine taste, then, to savour in at number 77, Via Ascanio Sforza, in Milan, on the Naviglio Pavese.

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